Opening Gates and Crumbling Walls
by DeBo81
Summary: Captain Gates has always seen the chemistry between Detective Beckett and Mr. Castle, but when she can no longer ignore it, will it mean an end for the partners? One shot


"Opening Gates And Crumbling Walls"

by DeBo81

After Beckett finished talking to her team she returned to her desk. Her shoulders were slumped, her hair was unusually mussed. Despite the happy ending of their latest case, the weight of the last weeks, possibly months or years visibly weighed on her shoulders. Captain Victoria Gates watched her lead detective with understanding, compassion and respect. The last several days had been hard for everyone, but for Kate Beckett and Richard Castle, it had been hell. She didn't need to be on the "inside" with her detectives to know exactly what kind of toll had been taken. When Alexis Castle was abducted, her father responded as any in his place would, but their family at the 12th rose up as well, uniting to bring back the girl they all cared so much for. It was enough to make anyone proud. Now that she was home again safe, the adrenaline high tapered off, leaving shaken, exhausted champions in its wake. Especially Kate Beckett, who cared more than she ever tried to let on.

Gates stepped back from her window and returned to her desk. Stacks of files and paperwork waited for her attention, but tonight was one of those nights where she really had nothing left to give. Apparently the week had drained her as well.

After only a brief reconsideration, Victoria reached for her suit jacket. The stack of work could wait til the morning. With her husband and boys out of town for the weekend, she wouldn't mind spending her Saturday morning in the station. She shut down her computer and locked her drawers. But before heading out, she grabbed her coffee mug and the empty plate from her lunch and headed to the break room.

"Detective Beckett", Gates said in surprise. "I figured you'd be heading home."

The younger woman shrugged but didn't stop washing the handful of dishes piled at the sink. "I will, soon. Here, let me." Beckett reached out for the dishes Gates held.

For several moments neither woman spoke, but then the Captain took a step forward so that she could perch against the cabinet. "You guys did good work today, above and beyond."

"Wouldn't think of doing anything less, especially for... Alexis."

"Of course. I would expect nothing less."

More quiet moments passed and soon Kate was done with the chore. She wiped her hands on a towel but hesitated before leaving the small room, as if there was something she wanted to say. The two women's eyes locked as they studied each other, waiting for the other to say whatever it was that was on their mind. But when several more long seconds passed without conversation ever being broached, Kate offered a half nod and took a step toward the door.

"Detective," Gates spoke without thinking, causing Kate to freeze. "I was wondering if perhaps we could talk."

Beckett straightened her spine, and tensed her lips in firm resignation, or perhaps trepidation. "Sure."

"It's not... I mean," Victoria stuttered slightly as she mentally raced for the right words. "Well, maybe not here. I know you're probably in a hurry to get home, but you wouldn't have time to share a drink would you?"

Clearly surprised, Beckett's mouth opened and closed twice before answering. "Um, I uh, guess I have a little while. I have dinner plans later, but that's not for a couple hours."

"Great. If you let me get my coat, we could maybe grab something down at Truett's."

Gates noticed the questioning looks Ryan and Esposito shot their team leader as the two ladies stepped onto the elevator but she quickly averted her eyes so as not to be caught staring. Together the women rode down to the ground floor in silence. Only when they stepped out into the New York City evening, did Gates speak. "How are the Castles doing?"

"Good now that everything is resolved. Alexis is strong. I think she may be less shaken than Castle."

"I can sympathize. If someone abducted Jeremiah or Levi, heaven help them."

Three blocks later the pair entered the quiet pub. The bartender nodded to the Captain who led the way to a wooden booth near the back. An elderly man, with a towel over his shoulder and an apron around his waist, followed them to take their orders.

Gates sipped her Long Island iced tea while watching Beckett take a healthy drink from her rum and Coke. Obviously she was feeling as unsure about this meeting as she was. Not being one to beat around the bush though, Victoria plunged forward without anymore delay. "Detective.. Kate, I know you're wondering why I asked you here, but we need to talk, and since it needs to remain completely off the record, the station wasn't exactly..."

Beckett nodded.

"I know about you and Mr. Castle."

Kate paled momentarily. "Excuse me?"

"Please don't deny it, it's obvious. Always has been. But please hear me out before you try defending yourselves."

The young detective didn't answer, but took another drawn out drink of liquid courage from her glass.

"As you are well aware of, department policy forbids workplace relationships, but especially between partners. And for good reason. What we do every day is dangerous and requires our full attention. Adding the complications of a romantic relationship to a professional one, can have life threatening repercussions. Not to mention it can effect the working environment and relationships with other co-workers. As you also know, when it comes to being a supervisor, I'm by the book. I believe our regulations and rules are there to be followed." Victoria paused for several beats before continuing. She could see something in Kate's eyes deflating as she spoke. "With that being said, I must admit that I've been impressed with how you and Mr. Castle have handled the situation. Not the sneaking around, hoping I wouldn't notice, or the fact that your team has repeatedly covered for you, but the way you've maintained professional decorum, put feelings aside to get the job done, and how your collective skills seem to sharpen with time."

"Captain..."

"Please, Kate, we're off duty. Call me Victoria or even Ria if you prefer. It's what my _friends_ call me."

"Um, OK. Well, Victoria, I won't insult you by denying what is obviously the truth. Castle and I, we are together, and we were trying to keep it quiet because we know the rules. I'm sorry for trying to deceive you, we just didn't want you to kick him off the team. I only ask that the rest of my team be spared any disciplinary action. I take full responsibility."

Gates chuckled. "Don't worry, there won't be any disciplinary actions. None of you are in trouble. But I couldn't ignore the situation any longer either. As is, I've probably waited too long to speak to you about this. I've seen the shared looks, flirtatious smiles and the way you stand together, not to mention that Valentine's debacle. It's rather obvious to anyone with two working eyes and a brain that you're more than friends and coworkers. But this last week with Alexis and Sarah's kidnappings, the supportive, yet blatant affection was much more obvious. I saw the hugs and the hand holding, which I completely understand; he needed you. But it can't become a habit. I can turn a blind eye to an extent, but if someone else, someone higher up notices, if a suspect notices, we have bigger issues. I don't know how Montgomery handled this situation, I figured that since Mr. Castle isn't technically an officer or actually hired by the department, he let it slide on the technicalities. At first I wasn't comfortable with that reasoning and would have rather seen our civilian consultant gone, but he's proved his value more than once. So now I guess I shall continue on with that reasoning, at least for now."

"Uhhhhhhhhhh, Montgomery never had a situation to handle. Castle and I have only recently begun dating."

Gates choked a little on her drink. "I thought you've been dating for years."

"Noooooooo. Just since last summer, during my time off."

Victoria raised her eyebrows high, and sat back to study Beckett. "Really?"

"I have no reason to lie."

"I honestly thought that you've been together the entire time I've been at the 12th."

Beckett blushed slightly which amused her superior officer. "Don't be embarrassed Kate. When you care for someone very deeply it radiates into every aspect of your life whether you realize it or not. You both obviously care very much, and have for a long time. To be honest, that's what frightens me."

"Sir?"

"I told you to call me by my name. I'd like you to call me Ria when we aren't on the clock."

"Yes Sir, uh Ria."

Gates ordered a second round of drinks, before explaining further.

"You and I aren't all that different. In fact I see myself in you quite often. Maybe that's why I can be so hard on you. I want the best for you. I want to spare you from some of my mistakes, and help you be the best officer you can be. Not that I don't want that for all my people, but I especially want to see you succeed."

"Thank you. That... that means a lot. But where does that leave Castle and I?"

"I think I should share something with you. It's not something I talk about often... not because I'm ashamed, but because there are people I still work with who were involved in certain ways, and I don't need to stir things up.

I think I may have mentioned before that back in my beat cop days, my patrol partner was assaulted by a superior officer, and then he used his power to keep his hands clean. Well, that's the turning point that led me to IA. I love the NYPD. My family have been cops for generations. I respected the institution and the people dedicated to it but it sickened me to see people abuse their authority like that man did. I needed to make things right. Unfortunately my cop family and friends didn't all see it that way... suddenly some of them thought I'd become a whistle blower or a traitor or a spy. In many ways, making that career choice left me very alone. But I threw myself into my work so I didn't have to focus on the other aspects of my life. I had a goal, I needed to defend my partner and bring justice to the man who attacked her.

It took time, almost three years from when he accosted her and when she left the force, until I got a break, and it came from somewhere I never expected. See, around that time, I ended up being partnered with Det. James Sheridan. He'd been transferred from Narc to IA around the same time I was. I'd heard about him but never worked with him, and had actually gone out of my way to avoid him. Sergeant Haines, who I was trying to nail, had been his commanding officer, and by all reports they'd been pretty tight. I'd even heard rumors that Sheridan had actually been put in IA so that Haines and a couple other suspected dirty cops had someone to brush away any trails of bread crumbs they might leave.

I hated him, I didn't trust him, and I never let on that outside of my regular assignments, I was using my resources to try and bust the man I thought was his hero. But Sheridan was smart... and a charmer. He knew what people said about him and he didn't care. He worked hard, both by researching and spinning his magic on people and somehow always got the info we needed. Eventually I began to trust him, at least with some things. Then one day we got another complaint about Sergeant Haines, and I was so jaded and judgmental I believed James was trying to cover it up. I later found out he knew more about me than I realized and thought I wanted to bust the seargent so badly that I'd forget myself and corrupt the case, so he was just making sure all our i's were dotted and t's were crossed. He knew Haines was bad news but he also knew that our proof had to be unshakable because Haines and his cronies knew the system and had too many key people in their pockets. For six months we worked together round the clock, fighting for a common goal while fighting each other the entire way. Then one night we got our break, we not only had unrefutable evidence, but we had Haines in cuffs once and for all. It was a remarkable victory for us. And we rode that high all the way from the station, to the bar to celebrate and then back to his apartment. I don't know when it happened but sometime during those months of being partners, I fell in love with that man. And for the first time in years I was happy. I was happy with my career, happy with my personal life, even happy with my family life again. I believed nothing could bring me down.

We kept our romance a secret, but we were in love, and working in the midst of detectives. They figured it out and they figured it out fast. Our commanding officer gave us a warning that we were breaching protocol. We had two choices, call off the relationship or call of the partnership. It wasn't easy but we knew our love was more important than who we worked with, so we both ended up going solo. He even transferred back to Narc, as a commanding officer. A year passed by and things grew serious. We even began talking about a future together when he found out he was up for promotion." Gates smiled softly with her glass hovering just below her lips as she thought back, but then suddenly she sobered and met Kate's eyes. "But then the unexpected happened. Early one morning, he called me from some bar. He'd run into one of the undercover officers while doing some plain clothes surveillance. He was sure the kid was on the take. James confronted him about it, but he was full of excuses. So he wanted me to check on this cop to see what his story was. A day later this guy's story began to unravel and within a week he was relieved of duty.

The next day James and I both had the day off and so we went out for dinner. He was a nervous wreck and I'd noticed the bulge in his coat pocket, so I knew he was finally going to propose. After dinner we began walking toward the park hand in hand, completely lost in our own little world. We never knew we were being followed.."

Victoria took another drink while Kate waited for her to continue.

"The only thing I heard before the gun shots, was a man calmly saying, "You've ruined my life." He fired three times, and James pushed me to the ground just as the bullets wizzed by. We were fine, but we wouldn't be for long if we didn't do something. I didn't have my piece, but James did and he returned fire. The gunman, who was the cop we'd just busted, was hit in the leg and the side but he kept shooting. A bullet grazed my shoulder, and James noticed. It was enough to break his concentration, which was all that man needed. His last bullet found James' head."

"Oh my God. What happened to him?"

Gates smiled but it was tinged with the pain from that day so long ago. "I married him. Thankfully because of trajectory, it wasn't fatal. He lost almost all his vision in one eye, and has a few issues with some of his fine motor skills, but otherwise is fully recovered."

"I had no idea your husband was a cop. I thought he was a caterer."

"Yeah, up until that day he was. Unfortunately, his injuries took him out of the field, and since he's not much of a paper pusher, he retired from the force and took up his other great passion, food. He's run his own catering company since."

By now all four glasses on the old wooden table were empty.

"Look, the reason I told you this, isn't to warn you or chastise you. It's to let you know I understand. Right now, I'm not going to kick Castle out, or lecture you on protocol, I'm just advising you to be careful how you handle this. If you guys are going to continue as you have been, watch your backs. There are others who would call you out on the carpet and end it all right now. I won't do that, you're too good together as a team. But I can't professionally condone it either. Be extra vigilant about who sees or knows. If it becomes public knowledge, I may not have a choice anymore, so until then, I'm planning on remaining in the dark on all of your extra office dealings. Plausible deniability, can be your friend, you know? Also, be careful in the field, it's hard enough going out there every day putting your own life on the line. It's a totally different game watching the person you love do it as well. It changes how you think, how you react. But I think you know that already."

Kate bit her lip and just continued to let Gates talk. Nothing about this meeting had been what she'd expected.

"So, I'm sure I don't have to tell you, but this talk never happened. On the record, I know nothing about you and Mr. Castle. But," Victoria smiled softly, "...off the record, and hopefully as a friend, I want to tell you that I'm very happy, for both of you."

"I completely understand. And thank you."

Victoria stood and threw some money on the table. "It's been a long week, Detective. You and your partner should take the day off tomorrow. You both certainly deserve it. But I'll see you _both_ bright and early Monday morning."

"Yes Sir. We'll be there."

Victoria shrugged into her coat and leaned in towards Beckett before leaving, "And do me a favor won't you?"

"Sure, anything."

"Try not to tell Mr. Castle that he's weaseled his way in on my good side just yet. It's fun to watch him squirm, and to be honest, I think he enjoys the challenge of trying to win me over."

Kate threw her head back and laughed. "It'll be our secret."

"Great. Let's keep it that way at least a little longer. Good night Kate."

"Good night... Ria."

The End


End file.
